Modern retail stores sell a wide variety of items, including foodstuffs, home and kitchen goods, electronic goods, clothing, sporting goods and so on. Typically the items are displayed on shelves or other display units to be selected by customers and taken to a point of sale or checkout to be purchased. The display units are then replenished with new stock by staff of the retail store, which is delivered to the store via a supply chain or held in reserve at the store. Hence, there is an ongoing need to manage the inventory of a retail store.
Typically, each product item is marked with a barcode. The barcode is a machine readable physical marking on the item or attached to the item, e.g. as a label, forming a one dimensional (1D) or two-dimensional (2D) pattern. The barcode provides identity data about the item, most often in the form of a Universal Product Code (UPC).
A barcode scanner is used by staff in the retail store to read the barcode and then obtain information about the product item, such as by communicating over a wireless local network with a product database hosted by a store server. However, many different challenges arise in relation to the barcode scanner. The barcode scanner is typically a dedicated device with a relatively large form factor and a relatively high cost. A ‘gun’ form factor is widely used, with the scanner carried in a waist-worn holster. The user may grip the gun-type scanner and control a scanning function using a trigger. Each retail store only has a limited number of barcode scanners, and each day the barcode scanners are carried around the store by staff. However, the scanners can be lost or misplaced, or are simply unavailable when needed to fulfil a particular duty such as responding to a customer question concerning the store inventory.
Further issues arise such as the operation and effectiveness of the barcode scanner. For example, there are challenges concerning the response speed of the scanner. Further, the scanner typically has a bespoke user interface and requires a skilled operator. Store staff are often unable to effectively use all of the potential functionality of the barcode scanner, due to the high level of knowledge and skill required.
One aim is to address at least some of the above difficulties, or other difficulties as will be appreciated from the description herein. Some examples described herein may aim to provide a more convenient and cost effective barcode scanning device. Some examples may aim to provide a barcode scanning device which has improved functionality and ease of use.